Five things you didn’t know were trending, but totally are (according to TradeMe)

Who doesn’t love online auction site TradeMe? Whether you’re buying, selling, arguing in the comments section or just wasting time waiting for the bus, TradeMe is about as close as it gets to a Kiwi online institution (second only to this fine site, of course). But there’s more to TradeMe than discount mopeds and second-hand baby clothes. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a very accurate thermometer for the preclusions, interests and obsessions driving the Kiwi mood at any given moment.

And just what is the locus of our attention at this particular point in time? We contacted TradeMe to find out, and in the process, secured something of an insight into the sometimes strange – and often utterly obvious – objects of our current affections.

1.Sufjan Stevens (January 2016 – March 2016)

Here at Idealog, we’re as hip as the next middle-aged guy who’s been listening to the same three albums for the last twenty years, so we totally know who Sufjan Stevens is. A big deal, that’s who, especially if you go by the steadily increasing interest punters are expressing on TradeMe.

While we’re on the subject of acts we’re claiming to know about, local 'popera' group Sol3Mio seems to have piqued the interest of many a New Zealand mum during their recent tour. (January 2016 – March 2016)

2. Madonna (Jan 2016 – March 2016)

But neither Stevens nor Sol3Mio can hold a candle to everyone’s favourite material girl, who thrusted and gyrated her way to Auckland a week ago, bringing her own peculiar brand of high-concept dance-pop, dazzling pageantry and objectively terrible singing.

Simon Sweetman may have called her “the world’s oldest rotisserie chicken” (and he knows chicken), but, according to TradeMe, the punters love her just as much as they did back in the twenties, Err, their twenties.

3. Martin Crowe (March 2015 – March 2016)

Last week’s sad news that cricketer/legendary batsman/Kiwi legend had passed away following a long battle with cancer had Kiwis expressing their grief in various ways – Facebook posts, YouTube classic cricket binges and TradeMe searches. He was farewelled in a service in Auckland today, it’s not too late to log in and nab yourself some sweet mementos of New Zealand’s greatest ever batsman.

4. Three-way (January 2016 – March 2016)

When Lower Hutt lesbian couple Grace Whitaker and Chelsea Cameron decided to auction themselves off (a date that is) to fund a trip to Nepal, many predicted the whole affair would turn into outright sleaze in a matter of moments. Not so however. This was one auction that did not allow pickups.

The lucky winner paid $400 and promised to build the pair a sandcastle or something weird, but not before a nation of rubber-neckers and lookie-loos logged into their favourite auction site for a gawk at the couple’s indecent proposal.

5. Harry Potter (March 2015 – March 2016)

The boy who lived is a perennial favourite on TradeMe, however rumours of a new book on the horizon had children, their supportive parents, and a frighteningly large subset of full-grown men and women heading to New Zealand’s favourite auction site to catch-up on any missed moments from the eight-strong series. If the TradeMe interest is anything to go by we might be in for another blast of Pottermania in the near future. Live long and prosper!